[DitV] Alternate Setting: Jedi Knights: Mos Alam

[two_fishes]

Hi!

I am going to be running a DitV game on Friday, refitted for Jedi Knights. I thought I would post the town here for everyone's entertainment/comments (any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated).

I went with standard town creation rules, rather than the alternate versions posted in other threads. They work so nice & neat regardless of the setting. The only changes I plan to run with are escalation, as follows:

Talking d4 => Physical d6 => Fighting & Blasters d8 => Lightsabers d10

Using the following list for Ceremony (taken from prior threads):

Sensing the power of the Force - D4
Invoking the Jedi Council - D4
Actively encouraging/discouraging strong emotion - D6
Laying on hands - D6
Naming fear--Your own or your opponent's - D8
Master and Apprentice - d8
(instead of Three In Authority)

though I may just stick with Three in Authority as well.

And finally replacing Coats & Guns with Lightsabers, natch.

Here it is!

MOS ALAM (TATTOOINE)

PRIDE & INJUSTICE
ABEL JAROO, a small-time smuggler from Tattooine thought he was smarter than JOTTA the HUTT. He tried to burn the HUTT on a deal. The HUTT captured ABEL and fed him to a Sarlaac pit, leaving his wife, SARI (sah-REE) JAROO in dire straits.

SIN
DARWI JAROO, a Jedi apprentice has learned of the death of her father, ABEL JAROO. She has abandoned her training at the Jedi temple to look to her mother.

DEMONIC ATTACK
ARWAAKA, a Jedi wookie who has succumbed to the Dark Side has arrived on planet. He wishes to take over illicit activities from JOTTA the HUTT. Meanwhile, JOTTA the HUTT continues to demand payment from DARWI and her mother for ABEL's debts.

FALSE DOCTRINE
DARWI has decided it is okay for her to take revenge on the HUTT. Her cause is just, the HUTT is an evil creature. It's not revenge--it's justice, and a good service.

CORRUPT WORSHIP
DARWI has approached ARWAAKA about attacking JOTTA. He has offered to help her, and to continue her training in order to make her ready for the attack.

FALSE PRIESTHOOD
Together DARWI and ARWAAKA comprise a False Master-Servant dichotomy. ARWAAKA has also recruited JOTTA's 1st Lieutenant and translator to betray the HUTT. This is HOTU, a Greedo-type alien. He has been feeding ARWAAKA information on JOTTA's operations.

SORCERY
Agents of ARWAAKA have been sabotaging JOTTA's operations. They have been organizing Sand people to raid the Hutt's Jawa crawlers. (The sand people may talk about getting directions from "the shining one"--this is C3-U5 speaking on ARWAAKA's behalf.)

WHO WANTS WHAT
JOTTA wants the threat to his organization removed. He doesn't know ARWAAKA is behind the sabotage, just that his activities are being disrupted. If the Jedi take care of this, or even bring him the name of who is responsible, then JOTTA will call off ABEL's debt. He will send HOTU to summon them.

SARI wants the debt cleared, and she wants DARWI to remain with her on Tattooine. She is a widow now, and will lead a difficult life without someone to help her.

DARWI wants to kill the HUTT and will appeal to the Jedi to help her. She also wants to continue her training. If she cannot return to the Jedi Council, she will turn to ARWAAKA. She wants to keep this a secret.

ARWAAKA wants to take over the illicit trade on Tattooine. He wants the HUTT dead as well but mostly he wants the Jedi gone, and for them to leave DARWI in his care. He does not want the Jedi to communicate with the Jedi council and be warned of his status--he will sabotage their communications.

HOTU wants to usurp JOTTA's position. With the Hutt dead, he will betray ARWAAKA and DARWI and take control of the the HUTT's criminal organization.

THE DARK SIDE wants to claim another Jedi. It wants ARWAAKA and DARWI both left alive, if possible, or at least DARWI alive and morally compromised. The Dark Side want the Jedi to allow DARWI a murderous rage. It will threaten the things DARWI cares about--her mother, and/or her continued Jedi training (under the Jedi Council, or otherwise.)

IF THE JEDI NEVER SHOWED UP
DARWI would kill JOTTA the HUTT and initiate a power struggle between ARWAAKA and HOTU. There would be chaos and violence as the factions fought, and the Dark Side would gain strength from it.


RANDOM BITS of COLOUR
ARWAAKA is brown and white, like a pie-bald horse, or like Gizmo, the Mogwai. He wears a purple and gold mantle (like an extra long, extra sturdy scarf). He lives in an enclosed arborium, and is never without his polished protocol droid, C3-U5, to act as translator.

ARWAAKA and DARWI use the port city of MOS ALAM as their base.

JOTTA the HUTT has a citadel in the desert wastes as his HQ (yes, like JABBA.)

HOTU is usually found at his Master's right hand, translating and advising. He will head very important missions. He communicates to ARWAAKA by holo-transmission.

[Vaxalon]

Sounds like a good foundation.

[LostSoul]

Hey Mark, Dave here. 

I played Jedi Knight Otu Povic, with a Complicated History - a criminal who worked for Jotta, but was taken by the Council. 

My initiation scene had to do with me facing the council and getting over my resentment for being taken away from my home.  It was really cool, like almost all initiation scenes that I've seen.  To sum up the conflict, I accused the council of not following the "Way of the Force" by meddling in my life.  They responded by saying that they had the RIGHT to meddle in such things.  At this point, I had to escalate in order to keep going.  I really wanted to, but I would have had to have whipped out the ol' lightsabre and that would have made a mess of things.  (I did try some lame-ass raise involving a dark jedi or something on the council... but Mark and Erik called me on that, which was good.)

I ended up with "I have the right to meddle in the lives of others 1d6" as my initiation trait.  Wow!  That was not what I was expecting this character to go, but if it came down between that and murdering someone... I guess we know where I stand.  (That actually quite surprised me.)

Anyway.  Some things that I wanted to touch on:

The Dogs-related bit.  Let me set up the scene:

We're on Tatooine, heading to Sarwi's place out in the desert.  Hotu is taking us there.  Hotu's making noise about wanting to get rid of Jotta the Hutt.  We (Erik, the other player, and I) suspect someone is backing him.

There was some talk about having a conflict over this issue - I wanted to find out who he was working for.  Specifically, I figured that there was some kind of Dark Jedi in play, and I wanted to know.  We went around for a while, trying to figure out a reasonable conflict, and in the end there wasn't one; Hotu didn't tell us who he was working for, but he did give us some information.

My question for Mark: Why did you refuse to have a conflict that would reveal Arwaaka's presence?  I don't see how that would have had a negative impact on play.  (What I'm saying is that I felt that you - as the GM - were blocking me from doing something, and I don't like that.  I do think it was a mistake not to have a conflict.  Don't read this as me saying "You suck!" or anything like that; I just want to talk about it.)

The other issue I had with the game is something that I've noticed with our Burning Empires play.  (As part of the Indie-RPG Toronto group, we've played a few games together.)  I'm starting to think that colour is really important to me in play.  I want to get a sense of what's going on, a mental picture of play.  When we played this game of Dogs, and in our BE play, there's less colour than I'd like.

I especially notice this when we have more than two people in a conflict, and a Raise goes against two different characters.

Do you think that this is caused because we're not totally comfortable with the rules?  Or is it just because I like colour more than you guys?  Or maybe a combination of both?  Or maybe just being unfamiliar with playing with each other?  Or something else far more cooler than I can think of?

Anyways, I had a great time playing that game.  If you want to run another Jedi-Dogs game, or another Dogs game, let me know.  I'll be there!

[two_fishes]

You're right, I flubbed it. I should have just given you what you wanted, or let you have a conflict. I think I overthought it. I got too hung up on having "good" conflicts. In 20/20 hindsight-o-vision, what I should have done is just given it to you ("Yeah I'm working with a wookie named Arwaaka. He's a Jedi, like you.") and then thrown some demonic activity at you, like sand-people, or something. Or maybe something else.

As for the colour--I guess that should out in narration?--really clear narration of what is happening from moment to moment. Where are we, what does it look like, what does it smell like, etc. Is this what you're looking for?